BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac Hands-On Review

CIO — More than a year ago, I brought you the first official confirmation from Research In Motion (RIM) that it would release a long-awaited Macintosh-compatible version of its BlackBerry Desktop Manager software in 2009.

RIM's Official BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac "About" Screen

Today, RIM plans to make good on those claims, by publicly releasing the free BlackBerry Desktop Manager v1.0.0 (build 89) at 1 PM EST. The BlackBerry-maker was nice enough to send me the official build a few days ago, and I've been putting it through the paces ever since.

Little remains unknown about this new BlackBerry software for Apple users, since both unofficial and official walkthroughs of Desktop Manager for Mac are available online, and a near-final version leaked a couple of weeks back. Anyone interested had only to download and install that unofficial version to witness the fruits of RIM Mac developers' labors over the past couple of years.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac Applications Screen

For the purposes of this review, I'll stick to high-level observations about the final build--features or bugs that I believe are noteworthy, even if you've already spent time poking around the leaked beta. If it's more specifics on features that you seek, read "BlackBerry Software for Mac: Four Brand New Features," and "Four Things You Didn't Know About Desktop Manager for Mac."

First, the good stuff.

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